Shades Of Bleach
by justjoy
Summary: What can a colour mean? The answer: many things. A look at all the shades of the Bleach universe.
1. orange

DISCLAIMER: Nope. Unfortunately.

Author's Note: I'm back with a new mini-series, as promised :D you just gotta love the holidays! Anyway, this one is somewhat similar to my last series, _Come Back Soon_, except that I don't really have an overall theme for this one, except each chapter being based on a certain colour. So here's the first one - hope you enjoy it, then!

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><p><strong>1. ORANGE<strong>

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><p>The sun was just beginning to set when he heard the soft tread of footsteps behind him.<p>

"Thinking again, Kisuke?"

He turned around from where he had been sitting on the steps, waving his paper fan in front of his face. "Ah, Yoruichi-san! So nice of you to visit me!"

"You never change, do you?" She shook her head in mock despair at his innocent expression. "Now tell me, what's bothering you?"

The shopkeeper laughed lightly. "Oh, it's nothing I would bother you with, dear Yoruichi-san! It's just the everyday worries of a mere simple-minded shopkeeper, nothing much at all…"

"Urahara Kisuke, simple-minded?" There was a loud, sardonic snort. "You should know better than to try to trick me like that. It might work on everyone else, but I know you too well to be fooled." She crossed her arms, looking at him intently. "_What_ _is it?_"

He took in her glare – it was the same one she'd given him that one time he had tried to hide her milk in Ururu's room. The one that said if he didn't give her what she wanted _now_, he was going to regret it for the remainder of his days.

It reminded him of the days when she had been his superior.

Finally, he gave in, closing his fan and setting it down beside him.

"I was just wondering… what if I had done things differently all those years ago?" He sighed, turning away from her again. "If I hadn't sent Hiyori out, but gone myself instead – maybe I could have changed things –"

"Wait, wait, wait –" she interrupted him almost airily. " –_ this_ was what you were so reluctant to tell me?"

The shopkeeper sighed again, feeling very old for a moment. "I told you it was nothing at all, Yoruichi-san, not anything important that you need to be concerned with…"

She chuckled, amused. "That wasn't what I meant at all, Kisuke. I'm just saying that you're being stupid if you actually think that."

"But – " he spluttered "– if I had been there that night, I could have stopped him –"

"That doesn't mean you could have known what he was thinking," she said dryly.

He ignored her. "I could have guessed what he was trying to do – I had experimented with the idea of Hollowification before, and all the signs were there, I just didn't make the connection fast enough – "

"You don't get it, do you?"

She clapped a hand over his mouth, meeting his surprised gaze steadily.

"Listen to me, Kisuke. I'm not saying that you weren't good enough to stop him – in fact, you probably could have, _if_ you had known about his plans. And don't you even go telling me that you _should_ have known," she added before he could respond. "No one could have guessed what he was planning to do, least of all you. Even Shinji had no idea, and we both know he isn't an idiot. So there was no way you could have known, and therefore you couldn't possibly have stopped him. That is a fact."

There was the sound of muffled protests from underneath her hand.

Her gaze hardened ever so slightly. "I'm not having any of your silly arguments, Kisuke. This whole mess is _not_ your fault. Do you understand me?"

He seemed to be ready to protest again – then he suddenly deflated like one of his inflatable gigai, and nodded miserably.

She looked at him for one long moment before removing her hand. "That's better."

Then she rolled her eyes and laughed, breaking the solemn atmosphere. "You should have seen your face just now… you looked like a cat left out in the rain!"

"What can I say?" He shrugged almost nonchalantly, his usual demeanour slowly returning. "It's difficult to shake the feeling that I should have done _something_."

"Couldn't, wouldn't, hadn't, all add up to the same thing: didn't." She sat down gracefully beside him, a wide grin on her face. "Silly Kisuke. You aren't omniscient, you know, no matter how much you always pretend to be."

"Oh, Yoruichi-san, your words wound me so!" he declared overdramatically, pretending to keel over.

She laughed heartily at his antics for a while before both lapsed into a companionable silence.

Then she spoke up. "Ne, Kisuke… do you know why I always wear this orange shirt?"

He slanted a glance at her, somewhat confused at the abrupt change of topic. "Eh – because you like orange?"

"Absolutely not," she said, still grinning as she shook her head. "I _hate_ orange. Use those little grey cells of yours, Kisuke!"

"Eh…" he mulled over it for a moment before giving up. "I don't know. Why?"

Yoruichi whacked the shopkeeper over the head with his fan. "It's the colour of the Second Division, you idiot."

"Oh – right, I'd almost forgotten that…" he muttered while rubbing the sore spot on his head. Then he looked at her petulantly. "But that wasn't an excuse to hit me!"

She conveniently ignored his complaints. "The past is past, Kisuke. Just because we might have done something wrong doesn't mean that we must spend the rest of our days regretting it, you know?"

"Yes, yes, Yoruichi-san. Just don't whack me again!" he begged pitifully, an obviously faked pout on his face.

"Why would I?" She smiled fondly at his expression of horror. "It's fun!"

He was already up and running before she even finished her sentence. "TESSAI! URURU! JINTA! HELP ME!"

"They're not around!" she exclaimed gleefully as she sprang up lightly, wielding the fan like a weapon. "I sent them out on an errand!"

There was a cry of dismay from the unfortunate quarry – and so it was that the epic chase began, two figures silhouetted against the orange light of the setting sun.

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><p><strong>to be continued...<strong>

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><p>2nd Author's Note: So there you have it :D this is my first time writing Yoruichi and Kisuke - which is rather odd, considering they're practically my favourite characters - so hope I didn't do too badly!<p>

3rd (and last!) Author's Note: I'll be updating as soon as I can - it shouldn't take too long, since I already have a couple more planned out. In the meantime, I'm still looking for ideas for future chapters, so use your little gray cells (yay!) and give me your suggestions :D reviews are always welcome, and thanks for reading!


	2. red

DISCLAIMER: I wish.

Author's Notes: I know I said that this would be up earlier, but I came down with a fever T.T sorry for the delay everyone! Much better now though, although this one is probably going to have a couple of errors since my brain's still wonky. Will stop talking now, so read on, and hope you like it!

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><p><strong>2. RED<strong>

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><p>Red.<p>

That was what people thought when they saw her Ken-chan.

It was the same thing that _she_ thought about her Ken-chan too.

But it wasn't the same – when others said 'red', they meant the colour of blood. She'd heard it many, many times before, even when she was only half-listening; they said he was 'violent' and 'wild' and 'rough' and lots of other things that she hadn't quite understood, because the words were all so long and official. They all seemed to mean the same thing though; she could tell from the way they said it, and the looks on their faces.

She had even heard the scowling girl with the white braids – the one who always petted a black cat when she thought no one else was looking – call him a 'monster' once.

It was fine, though; she knew that none of them had meant what they said, because her Ken-chan was a nice person – in fact, he was the best person she knew. And besides, monsters were the funny things that hid in dark corners and liked to jump out suddenly and try to scare you.

Of course, she was never scared, because her Ken-chan was always around when the _real_ monsters appeared. She didn't honestly think that any of those white-faced things were stronger than him, even though she knew that he always found it fun to fight them.

And then some people – like Baldy, Icchi, or even Maki-Maki – meant to say that her Ken-chan had courage, and was willing to make sacrifices in the face of danger.

She thought she knew what they meant; well, at the very least, she knew what having courage meant – it meant that her Ken-chan was brave, which he definitely was – but she didn't quite understand the second part. Of course, she had asked Baldy about it, but he had just scratched his head and mumbled something about 'fighting'. Which sounded about correct, considering that it _was_ Ken-chan that they were talking about, but she would have liked it if he had been able to explain it better.

But that was why Baldy was called Baldy, not Brainy or anything like that.

Maybe she should ask Byakushi about it one day… wait, she was 'digressing from the topic', as he always called it – Bya-kun, of course, not Ken-chan.

Some people were smart, like Bya-kun – it made doing stuff to them all the more fun, like the last time she had gone to take Bya-kun's pretty little fishes.

Then there were those who didn't seem to have much of a brain, but had more than enough heart to make up for it.

Icchi was one of those people. She didn't think he was very smart – smart people didn't come looking for fights, now did they?

Everyone knew he had a big heart, though, and that was why those people like Shiny Glasses (who definitely didn't look stupid at all) followed him. She thought it was also why Ken-chan found fighting Icchi so fun, other than the fact that he was the only one who was powerful enough to _fight_ him at all.

Her Ken-chan was much better, though. He had all that, and a large shoulder too.

And that wasn't a 'digression', because that was one of the many things that she liked about him. It was one of the important things that made Ken-chan _her_ Ken-chan, and not just some idiot like Maki-Maki or Baldy.

That didn't mean she didn't like Maki-Maki and Baldy – they were actually quite nice people, really. Somehow, though, they couldn't stand being with her for too long; it made them do weird things. She sometimes thought Baldy would have tried to pull his hair if he wasn't already… well, bald.

But everyone else – Maki-Maki, Baldy or even Icchi – was _different_.

Yes, she knew they were 'courageous' and 'willing to make sacrifices'. Unlike lots of other people, they weren't 'a bunch of cowards' as Ken-chan would have called them. Most of them had a big heart too, even if it was for someone else, not her.

She supposed that made them 'red' too, in other people's eyes.

Her Ken-chan was a special shade of red, though.

It was the same red that she dreamt of every night as she drifted off to sleep, her Ken-chan snoring loudly beside her. The same red that she'd touched on his sword the first time they had met.

The same red she knew that she would see if someone even _tried_ to harm her in front of Ken-chan.

And even if the sky fell down, she knew that he would always be there, a great big shoulder for her to hop on.

He _was_ her Ken-chan, after all.

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><p><strong>to be continued...<strong>

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><p>2nd Author's Note: Again, my first time writing for this set of characters :D by the way, red is the traditional colour for a heroic figure in Japanese culture in case you didn't know that. Interestingly enough, statistics also show that red cars are more likely to be involved in accidents - wonder why?<p>

3rd (and last!) Author's Note: Leave a review and tell me what you think! I always love to hear from you guys. And thanks to all who have read/alerted this story - you guys made the day of the poor ill author :D thanks again!


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